


Birthday Hues

by theoncomingwolf



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, F/F, Femslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-26
Updated: 2015-06-26
Packaged: 2018-04-06 05:15:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4209321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theoncomingwolf/pseuds/theoncomingwolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written to fill the prompt:<br/>« au in which cosima is a really chill and talented single painter in nyc and this french family commissions her for a painting and she meets delphine and it's really fluffy ((ficlet request)) » — Anonymous</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthday Hues

**Author's Note:**

> This is, I think, the first thing I wrote for OB that was longer than a drabble. Enjoy!  
> ((Changed the setting from the prompted NYC to San Fran, bc I forgot about that aspect of the prompt when I had started writing))

Cosima’s intrigued enough by her most recent commission that she takes it, even if it does sound a bit sketchy. She’s contacted by an older French man who popped by the studio two days prior; his request, from what she can gather from his email, is for Cosima to meet his daughter, spy on her a bit, and paint the woman- Delphine- something that she might like, based on the information collected.

It’s a totally weird request, but he’s offering her a lot of money on top of the interesting aspect, so Cosima goes for it.

-

The barstool Cosima is sitting on squeaks as she spins, waiting at the designated spot for a tall, French blonde to walk in. The waiter has given up trying to serve her anything, and from the way he’s eyeing her, Cosima’s afraid he might try to kick her out.  
On her latest revolution, Cosima catches a glimpse of blonde. She throws her hand out to catch the bar and stop her movement, dreadlocks still in motion hitting her face. Moving her hair back behind her shoulder, she stares at the woman until the room stops spinning, waiting for any proof that the blonde in question is Delphine so that she can text Mr. Cormier confirmation. She gets such confirmation when Delphine orders, revealing an accent similar to the man’s; Cosima sends the text.

She notes that he failed to mention how frickin gorgeous the woman is.  
Armed with her sketchbook and a smile, Cosima moves onto phase two.

“Hey,” she greets; Delphine smiles politely, the look in her eyes making it very clear that whatever Cosima is confronting her about is going to be finished with quickly.

“Hello…” Delphine says as Cosima drops into the chair in front of her, “ah, my father is actually going to…”

“Oh it’s fine,” Cosima assures her, “I can go; my question is only relevant if you’re free anyway.”

“Sorry,” Delphine tells Cosima, who slides out of the chair slowly- and there it is, the phone call.

Delphine pulls her cell out of her purse, answering and subsequently speaking in French, of course, though as Cosima tries to casually not actually leave the table, she wishes she at least knew what Delphine is saying.

“Hey, actually,” Delphine says, dropping her phone on the table with a pout, “what did you need?”

“Oh, well,” Cosima tells her, sitting down once more, “I was supposed to hang out with some friends today, but they bailed, see? You sound foreign, figured that if you weren’t from here, I could show you around? But you’re busy, so uh-”

“Non,” Delphine interupts, “my father had to cancel. You would show a stranger around though?”

“Well yeah,” Cosima tells her, “It gives me someone to hang out with and you a bit of fun- hopefully. I like a win win.”

She pauses, thinking.

“It’s my birthday,” she says at last. 

Cosima’s surprise is genuine- Mr. Cormier did not tell her they were pulling this on the woman’s actual birthday.

“Well then we have to do something!” Cosima says, pulling one leg onto the chair and waving her arm to catch the attention of the waiter who surely thinks she’s crazy already, “I’ll buy breakfast, then we can go for a walk; coming to San Fran in the summer, at least, makes it somewhat bearable for walking.”

They order food, Delphine rejects her offer to buy, but smiles, and does not give any sign that she wants Cosima to leave. It turns out that Delphine is a PHD student, touring a college in the area for her final semester because it is near where her father lives and there are many good jobs in California. Cosima cannot contain her excitement at this revelation. Science is her favorite thing, except maybe for art, though she has trouble deciding at times. If she hadn’t gotten success with her paintings, she tells Delphine, she would have loved to study Biology. She does anyway, with books and the internet, even if she opted to not do formal college.

Delphine tells her about her Immunology thesis and Cosima is intrigued, glad that she knows enough vocabulary and concept to get the French student into a good discussion, which she doesn’t dumb down for the painter.

She asks Cosima what she does, and she freezes. After a moment of deliberation, she slides her sketchbook across the table, around the clutter of their plates, and tells the truth. She does leave out the part where Delphine’s dad hired her to spy though, instead just mentioning the basic details of her painting efforts, nothing about her current mission.

Delphine has the cutest smile glued on her face as she flips through the pages of Cosima’s drawings, which mostly contain sketches of people she’s seen in public, as well as some cartoons. There are a few pages filled with images that make total sense to Cosima as painting plans, but probably just look like a mess of graphite to Delphine. The woman looks over each drawing individually anyway, her smile never leaving her face.

They end up clearing out at about 11, Cosima managing to pay only by convincing the waiter that he should take Cosima’s card instead of Delphine’s on account of it being the blonde’s birthday. The waiter takes her Visa and they get free pie.

Their first stop is to the sea lions, which crowd about the beach in a herd. Delphine is delighted by the creatures. She seems content to watch them for a bit, so Cosima pulls herself onto a rail, opening her sketchbook to copy down the gorgeous features of her mark, commenting all the while with fun biological tidbits about sea lions that Delphine gets a kick out of.

Their tour of the hilly city takes all day, both of their legs quite sore by the end of it. Delphine has not seen “What’s Up Doc,” which eliminates half of the jokes Cosima could have made, but she gets many more sketches, some sneak photos of both Delphine marvelling at the city and of the specific things Delphine marveled at. They only break to use the ladies room and for a quick lunch, which Delphine manages to get the upper hand at and pay by cheating and telling the waitress it was Cosima’s birthday.

She gets sung to, receives a free cupcake, and Delphine laughs her ass off the whole time. Once the waitress leaves, Cosima slides the cupcake across the table to the true birthday girl, who relights it with a Zippo from her coat and makes a wish.

Somehow, by the end of the night, they end up at Cosima’s apartment, a little place a 10 minute walk from her studio for a bottle of wine. Cosima mentions that she bought the place for it’s proximity to where she works and Delphine’s face lights up as she demands to see Cosima’s paintings. Cosima gets her favorite red coat, grabbing another for Delphine to wear, and they go.  
She gushes over all of the paintings individually. Cosima, despite her success and all of the nice things she’s heard before, has never been more proud of her work.

She keeps casual notes over which ones are Delphine’s favorites, particularly noting what Delphine points out in each piece, hoping to include some similar details in Delphine’s painting.  
When she’s seen them all- which takes no small amount of time, though Delphine’s attention never wavers- Delphine steps in close, taking Cosima’s hands with her own. She leans in, an action Cosima’s not sure she knows she’s doing, so that she’s slightly more level with the brunette and thanks her for the night.

Cosima, one for jumping to conclusions, Cosima, a dumbass when it comes to making rational decisions, Cosima, who is supposed to be playing this whole situation a lot cooler, Cosima, who is a bit drunk, kisses Delphine.

Delphine does not react wonderfully.

She’s polite, but seems a little freaked, moving away from Cosima before the painter has time to open her eyes. When she does, Delphine is halfway to the door, apologizing profusely. She mumbles something about seeing her later before slipping out, leaving Cosima standing alone in her studio, as it often is.

-

Stupid. So stupid. How did she expect this to go, Cosima thinks, pushing her glasses on top of her head so she can bury her face in her hands. She’s perched on the couch, back in her apartment, an hour after she made the terrible decision to kiss her client’s probably straight daughter right on the mouth.

She gets up to open a new bottle of wine, noting that she and Delphine had finished the last one, when there is a quiet knock at the door. 

It’s Delphine. 

“I have your coat." 

"Oh.”

There’s a moment of awkward silence before Cosima realizes that she isn’t just handing the jacket over. She steps back, allowing Delphine entrance into her apartment. Delphine drops the jacket onto the couch, leaning against it as she tries to formulate something to say.

“I’m sorry,” Cosima says before she can speak, “So apparently I have a thing for, um, jumping to conclusions?”

“No I-” Delphine shakes her head, pushing off from the couch to stand in front of the shorter woman, “I have never thought about bisexuality. I mean, for myself, you know?”

Cosima listens in awe as she rambles about the scientific aspects of the sexual spectrum, amazed that she ever found such a woman.

“That,” she says, “is oddly romantic. And totally encouraging.”

She has to get on her tippietoes to kiss Delphine, who immediately responds, hand clawing at Cosima’s jacket to try and get it off of her.

She’s been lacking inspiration as of late, but colors and patterns flit through Cosima’s mind as she kisses Delphine, forming into images that seem to express her feelings for the woman better than her rambling words ever could.

This is gonna be the best damn painting she ever does.


End file.
